Card index file



May 24, 1949. v

A. LUND QVIS T ETAL 2,470,824

CARD INDEX FILE Filed Oct. 2, 1946 2 Shee'ts-Sheet 1 I jig-J y 1949., A. G. LUNDQVIST EI'AL I I 2,470,824-

CARD INDEX FILE Filed Oct. 2, 1946 2 Sheet-Sheet 2 Patented May 24, 1949 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE CARD INDEX FILE Axel Georg Lundqvist, Lulea, and Nils Hjalmar Lundqvist,

a. Sweden, assignors to Karl Olov Alenius, Lulea, Sweden Application October In Sweden 2. 1946, Serial No. 700,806 October 8. 1945 2 Claims. (Cl. 45-2) ment of the cards arranged in connection with the magazine. Fig. 2 is a longitudinal section along the line 11-11 of Fig. 1. Fig. 3 is a side view of the cards drawn out on the guide of the slide so that they take up a horizontal position. Fig. 4 illustrates the arrangement shown in Figs. 14) mounted on a collecting box for a plurality of magazines. Fig. 5 is a cross-section through the box with a magazine in raised position. Fig. 6 shows to a larger scale than Fig. 4 a portion of the box in longitudinal section. Fig. 7 is a side view of the lower portion of a card provided with a holder part for mounting the same on the guide. Fig. 8 shows the card and holder viewed from above. Fig. 9 is a. section along the line ,IX-IX in Fig. 7, and Fig. 10 is a sectional viewsimilar to Fig. 9 of a modified form of card holder.

In Figs. 1-3, I is a frame support in the form of a box in which two longitudinal rods 2 are arranged which constitute a guide for thecards when they are to be placed in the horizontal position. 3 is 'a magazine which is shown in end view in Fig. 5. The magazine consists of a frame in the form of a plate bent at an angle in section, the Vertical limb of which is shown at I, the horizontal limb being indicated at 5. Parallel with the limb 5 a bottom 6 is suitably arranged in the magazine. The limb 4 forms the rear wall of the magazine whilst the front wall is formed In the form of construction illustrated, the guides are formed by the bent-up end walls portion M of the guides 2 can enter, so that the external shape of the guides l0 corresponds to the guides 2 in the part I. The last-mentioned guides are fixed to the front portion I! of the support I on the one hand, and are also supported by leaf-shaped stays It at the opposite end of the 2 support, the said stays being guided in the slot I! (Fig. 5) formed in the magazine.

The front wall of the magazine is provided on both sides with recesses I 8 (Fig. 5) so that the front wall can be displaced on the slides 2. In the closed position of the magazine the front wall 1 part of the lower limb 8. The cards ll arranged in the magazine are thus constantly held fast in the magazine which with its card contents may in itself with the cards securely locked and occupying a very small amount of space.

The cards il (Fig. 7) are provided with a special holder portion 24. The latter is connected to the card through the medium of a thin flexible strip 25 glued to the card so that a flexible connection isobtained between the card H and the holder 24. The holder 24 may suitably consist of a very thin steel band having a thickness of about 1 mm. for example. A steel band of this kind can be fitted on both sides of the part 25 and the two parts of the band can be attached to one another by spot welding or the like.

24 are bent outwards as shown in Fig. 8 so that they form thin resilient tongues. In these tongues openings 2] are provided by means'of which the card holders run on the guide i 0 in the magazine and the guide bars 2 in' the box I. To prevent the unintentional release of the cards from the guides the opening 28 for the recesses 21 may be narrower with respect to the latter. On account of the thinness of the steel rail the card holder can however, easily be brought onto the guide by bending the edges. In the form of construction shown inFig. 10 the holder 24' is formed by bending the thin plate into a grooved shape whereby the limbs 29 surround the card on each side, the latter being securely retained in the part I through suitable devices for transmitting the movement.

indicates a slide displaceable on the guide rods 2, which is provided with a handor finger grip 36. On the underside of the slide a locking hook 38, pivoted about stop 40. The locking hook 38 is arranged on the same level as the hook 2| in the magazine, and brought up against the maga--- when the slide 35 is zine, the sloping surface 4| of the hook 33 encounters the sloping surface of the hook 2 The latter is then pivoted out of engagement with the knob 23, with which the hook 38 now snaps into engagement instead. The slide 35 is thus connected with the front part 1, 3 which has been released from the magazine frame in the manner described. When the slide 35 is now withdrawn, it carries with it the front 1, 3 of the magazine whereby the latter rests on the projecting support on the slide. The cards may hereby be pushed out automatically from the magazine on the guide rods 2 under the action of the resilient limbs 25 for the holders 24, whereupon the said cards take up a substantially horizontal position as may be seen in and the position of the cards permits memoranda to be entered on them. After such entries have been made, or the cards exchanged where required, it is only necessary to push the slide 35 towards the magazine frame, whereupon the re-. silient limbs 26 of the card holders will be compressed and finally, all the cards will be pressed into the magazine. The sloping surface "of the a pin 31, is arranged which, I is actuated by a spring 39 to move up against a on a two-armed lever, one arm 53 of'wh'ich will then lighten the depressed magazine holder 52 to such an extent that the parallel link system 53, 54., will be straightened out by the springs 51 and the magazine will be raised from the position shown in Fig. 6 to the position shown in Figs. 4 and 5. The slides 2 for the frame supporting the horizontal displacement of the cards, or the support I can then by means of the rails 80 shown mm Figs. 1 and 2, be displaced in corresponding guides 8| on the upper side of the collecting box 53 until the hook on the magazine in its slides in the part 2. Hereafter the slide 35 is pushed forward in the manner described above,

3| (Fig. 1) engages the knob 32 position in front of the into engagement with the front 1, 8 of the magavzine and backward, whereupon the cards are Fig. 3, so that the text on the upper edge of the cards is clearly visible,

hook 2| will hereby encounter the surface 44 of the hook 38 so that the hook 38 is disengaged from the knob 23 and in its place the hook 2| will engage the knob and therefore the front part 1, 8 of the magazine.

In order to combine the advantages of a spaceeconomizing vertical index file with the advantages of clear visibility obtained with a horizontal index file, in a particularly favourable manner, according to the form of construction shown in Figs. 4-6 a number of magazines 3 may be arranged in a, collecting box which may have transverse walls 5| forming compartments for the different magazines. In the example illustrated the magazines are held up by a holder 52 which is supported by a parallel link system, the links of which are indicated at 53 and 54. The links 53 are connected by pins to the holder 52, whilst the links 54 slide in horizontal slots 58 at the bottom of the box 50. The pins 55 are actuated by springs 51 which tend to draw the pins towards one another and thereby straighten out the parallel link system so that the magazine is raised, The magazine may be pressed down against the action of the springs 51 and since the length of the lever arm decreases the closer the limbs 53 approach the horizontal position, no great force will be exercised by the springs on the link system in the depressed position, but the said link system will be kept compressed by the weight of the magazine. If it is desired to raise amagazine, a key 58 is depressed, this key being mounted pose suitable rear walls 3 and front .drawn out into the horizontal position on the guide rods 2.

The magazine 3 is detachably mounted on the holder 52 which for this purpose is provided with bent-up edges for the slides,-for the reception of the edges 54 of a fixed plate at the bottom of the magazine. It is thus possible to remove the magazine from the collecting box 50 but it is then looked so that cards cannot be directly removed from it. I

In the collecting-box 50 vertical slide rails 58 are fitted on which the magazine runs by means of the guides 51 attached to it. The magazine is retained in the raised position by stop pins 58, 63 on the-box, one of which (or both) can be withdrawn to permit the removal of the magazine. For example, the pin 53, Fig. 6, may be supported by a fiat spring 13 attachedto the collecting box 53 by means of a rivet 1|.

The magazines should be able to hold the cards securely in the vertical position. For this purwalls 1 stretch up over the bending point 25 between the card II and the holder 24, which isshown by a dotted line in Fig. 2. To provide support for the outer card when making entries the magazine may suitably be fitted with end plates 13 connected with the parts 3 and 1 by hinges 12. These plates may be mutually locked by a suitable locking device if desired. Instead of connecting the plates 13 with the parts 3 and 1 by hinges, the walls may be extended downwards and provided with an opening corresponding to the guide i0.

It is possible to dispense with the slide 35. In this case the front wall 1 in the magazine should be provided with a guiding sleeve or the like by means of which its parallel guiding on the slide rods 2 or some other guiding member can be ensured. Furthermore, a locking device which connects the front part 1 with the magazine can then be adapted'to be released by hand. It may consist, for example, of locking tongs which are held in engagement by a spring with corresponding openings in the magazine frame and are provided with a finger grip for release purposes and for the displacement of the front part on the slides 2..

, What we claim is:

1. In combination with an index card file arranged to constitute a vertical index file and a horizontal index file for the cards, a frame support provided with spaced longitudinally extending fixed guide members and with spaced longitudinal rails, a box associated with the frame support, vertically movable magazines mounted in said box, a support connected to each megazine, pivoted link means connected to said magazine support and to the box, each of the maga- 2 sections of the magazines in their closed positions,

and means for releasing the front section oi each of the magazines from its rear section so that when a magazine is moved to its raised position, the front section thereof may be moved longitudinally to withdraw the cards from the magazine with the card holders sliding on said fixed guide members in order that the cards may assume a substantially horizontal position above the box.

2. In combination with an index card me as called for in claim 1 in which the means for releasing the front section of eachof the maga- I zines includes a member longitudinally slidable in said-frame support, said member having means arranged to engage the front section of a magazine so as to move the front section away from the rear section.

AXEL GEORG LUNDQVIST. NILS HJAL'MAR LUNDQVIST.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the me of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date Dixon Dec. 18, 1906 I-lruska Oct. 8, 1918 Rand Dec. 27, 1927 Dunning et al June 5, 1928 Webb Nov, 1'7, 1931 Wolters et a]. Apr. 23, 1935 Toliefsen Mar. 24, 1936 v Miller et al May 26, 1942 

